As the mainstream
media fixates on the black gold washing up on the beaches of the Gulf Coast,
the rest of the United States
is quietly drowning in Red Ink.

Illinois
is facing a $13 billion deficit for the upcoming fiscal year (roughly half of
the state's operating budget), and it is just one of many states facing
financial problems:

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"[Thirty-two] states have run out
funds to make unemployment benefit payments and that the federal
government has been supplying these states with funds so that they can
make theirpayments to the unemployed. In some cases, states have
borrowed billions."-- EconomicPolicyJournal.com,
5/21/10

"Over the last two years, at least 45
states have slashed health, education and low-income assistance programs;
30 raised regressive sales taxes and fees; and 42 cut their payrolls
through layoffs, unpaid leaves (furloughs) and hiring freezes. Since
August 2008, state and local governments eliminated 192,000 jobs."--
WSWS.org, 5/21/10

Bob Herbert of the NY Times sums
it up:

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"A story
that is not getting nearly enough attention is the ruinous fiscal meltdown
occurring in state after state, all across the country. Taxes are being raised.
Draconian cuts in services are being made. Public employees are being fired.
The tissue-thin national economic recovery is being undermined. And in many cases,
the most vulnerable populations--the sick, the elderly, the young and the poor--are
getting badly hurt."--3/20/10

Mick Youther is an American citizen, an independent voter, a veteran, a parent, a Christian, a scientist, a writer, and all-around nice guy who has been aroused from a comfortable apathy by the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration.

"Rob Kall has certainly acquired the firsthand experiences and knowledge gained through interviews to deliver some interesting insights about the "bottom-up" information revolution. Whereas the old 'top-down' systems created stove-pipes and excessive secrecy that blocked information sharing and led to the 'failure to connect the dots' before 9-11, the bottom-up approach should be the main fix. Kall's concept would seem to interface equally well with the founding fathers' idealism in setting forth their democratic theory of governance as with the realism that makes the multi-sourced, bottom-up Wikipedia work. As someone who shares my support of both government and corporate whistleblowing -- which is nothing more than encouraging greater horizontal sharing of information, I commend Rob Kall's important work on this topic."

Coleen Rowley, former FBI special agent and named one of TIME Magazine's "Persons of the Year" in 2002)

Author Mark Taliano combines years of research with on-the-ground observations to present an informed and well-documented analysis that refutes the mainstream media narrative.